The chant, “Beat Ohio,” began early in the third quarter Saturday during Michigan’s 42-17 rout of Iowa.

Wolverines coach Brady Hoke’s reaction on the sideline?

“I turned to somebody and said, ‘Let’s beat Iowa first,’ ’’ he said.

He swears Michigan’s offense Saturday, which featured Devin Gardner at quarterback most of the time, and Denard Robinson splitting his snaps between QB and running back, had nothing to do with the coming showdown at Ohio State.

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“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for 18 months,” he said.

Robinson has an elbow injury and didn’t play the previous two games. He didn’t pass once Saturday. He ran 13 times for 98 yards and caught two passes for 24 yards.

Will he be able to throw this coming Saturday in Columbus?

It’s a lot to digest for the Buckeyes heading into for what is, for all intents and purposes, their bowl game. Ohio State will not play in the postseason because of past off-the-field transgressions.

Hoke couldn’t be more vague.

“He can throw,” Hoke said of Robinson. “He just can’t throw as well as he wants to.”

Hmmmm.

Regardless how the regular season ends in Columbus, the Wolverines will still have one more loss than last season.

The Alabama dream match to open the year was an ambush. It could not have gone worse. Defeats to Notre Dame and Nebraska - teams the Wolverines beat last season - still sting.

Yet, if there is any consolation for the Wolverines, it is this season could have easily gotten out of hand.

It didn’t. They pulled out close victories over Michigan State and Northwestern. They haven’t been upset by any of the teams they decidedly outman.

At the very least, 2012 will be respectable, regardless of what transpires short of an embarrassing blowout loss at Columbus. It will difficult not to see it as successful if Michigan wins this week.

The Wolverines, after all, haven’t beaten Michigan State and Ohio State in the same season since 2006.

Michigan is making progress - regardless.

Their victory over Iowa Saturday was their sixth win in the last seven games. The lone loss was to Nebraska, and there will be a lot of second-guessing about that game because Gardner was not prepared to play quarterback when Denard Robinson was injured. What could have been…

Gardner played well in his first two starts in place of Robinson. Saturday, but he was sensational vs. Iowa.

His emergence provides a brighter outlook for next season. For all the angst Michigan fans have felt about Robinson the last three years, there had been no clear-cut answer for which QB would replace him. There is now.

It will be Gardner. He was 18-of-23 passing for 314 yards and three touchdowns Saturday. He ran for three touchdowns.

Michigan fans have quickly fallen in love with Gardner as their QB. It’s understandable.

He has done little wrong and a lot right in his three games as a starter. It will be a much stiffer challenge at Ohio State, however.

It will be Gardner’s first starting experience at quarterback in a classic Big Ten road environment.

Robinson isn’t fixated on whether he is the starting QB. He appeared just happy to get back on the field.

“We’ll see next week,” he said. “(Offensive coordinator Ron) Borges dialed up some good stuff today. I’m all for it.”

While Michigan is a perfect 14-0 under Hoke at Michigan Stadium, they haven’t been nearly as successful on the road.

They would have to break out of that mode to win at Ohio State.

“It will be fun,” Hoke said.

And telling if the Wolverines win.

Pat Caputo is a senior sports reporter and a columnist for Journal Register Newspapers. Contact him at pat.caputo@oakpress.com and read his blog at theoaklandpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter @patcaputo98